Monday, 1 September 2014

Toul to Nancy

Toul to Nancy should have been pretty straight forward, out of Toul, turn left, back though the other side of Toul, a tootle down the River Mozelle to join the Canal des Vosges for a couple of large locks then turn left again onto the Embranchment de Nancy, then left again down the Mozelle and into Nancy. A trip of 27 miles and a long one 7 hour day or a couple of easy days. In the end it took 3 night stops and 4 cruising days although the last one was only an hour.

Leaving Toul we soon cam across a lift bridge. The first since Belgium.

A couple of locks later saw us at the junction of the Moselle. Both ways take us to Nancy and as we are doing a ring it mattered not which way we went so we tossed a coin and right won.

This took us around the back of Toul which is a fortified town.

Start point was Port de France

Once past Toul the River Moselle takes over, its wide, so wide its the first time we have seen buoys, oh and the scenery again.

Birification buoy

At the end of this delightful few hours we came into a big lock followed by another. We’ve not seen the likes of these since Belgium.

Trusty hook deployed

You can’t miss the PK markers here

Rail bridge

All the way along the Moselle here is a disused railway line. Behind the now overgrown line is a high stone wall running for miles and miles. You can only glimpse it but this bridge is part of the infrastructure.

At the top of the 2 big locks is a commercial basin where scrap metal seems to be the product being moved.

The finished product is steel bar in coils. I guess to make rebar for use in reinforced concrete.

After this area we pulled over to let the dogs off for empting, and this is where we made the mistake. Instead of going left we went straight on and got hypnotised by the beauty of the Canal des Vosges.

Lots of boates gold

River Moselle below

On the way back

So how’s this for a strange boat? We saw this first in Toul marina. It looks like it was a ferry at one time.

On the way back we saw it was unloaded. I think this must be his yard behind the gates and there was a docking point for the ramps.

About half an hour past here and we reached the junction we overshot at 4mph.

Not hare really was it?

Yay Lock 5

Accept it broke down requiring a 30 minute wait for VNF to do what they do. From here on the 5 up and the next 10 down the locks set automatically. Once through lock 11 we stopped for the night as it was getting late and we didn’t want to be stuck and the moorings at the start of lock 12 looked fine.

We had this canal all to our selves. There were no other boats moving or moored along its whole length.

The following morning we set off down to lock 13 and then onto the Canal de la Moselle towards Nancy.

Leaving lock 13

Like the approach to all citys the suburbs tend to be less than inviting and Nancy is no exception. But by no mans the worst we’ve seen.

We couldn’t moor in the marina but the next basin had a space and no restriction signs so we moored there with the help of a group of old men sat smoking and chatting.

This is the mooring by night.

The waterfront here looks like its being made nice and there is certainly a lot of activity with walkers, joggers, and sit and chatters. The other side now has boats moored, and walking the dogs along the canal bank there is no shortage of places to moor for free.